DiGiCo’s consoles shine in the sun

A number of rental companies have opted for DiGiCo consoles this summer, including Capital Sound, Major Tom, and Delta. The entire SD range has been utilised, as well as the D5; and the feedback from all involved, including FOH operators, has been very positive. DiGiCo’s SD7 has been a particular favourite on both the festival scene and the touring scene this year. It was deployed for U2’s Glastonbury headline performance; The Killers at Hyde Park Calling (Capital Sound); and a string of Coldplay festival performances including Glastonbury and T in the Park (Wigwam). An SD8 was also deployed for all of Jessie J’s festival performances including Glastonbury, iTunes, and Lovebox (Capital Sound). The SD7 has also been commonplace on many of this summer’s major tours, the biggest being Take That’s Patience 2011 tour (Capital Sound & Delta), plus it went out with Katie Meluah (Capital Sound), Rod Stewart (Major Tom), and Judas Priest. “Being laid out in banks of 12 fits really well with this production,” says Take That’s FOH engineer Gary Bradshaw. “There are 80 inputs, so I’ve got drums on one bank, band on another, vocals on another and the rest of the VCAs in the middle. I’m using multiband compression on some of the vocals and outputs, plus multiband EQ on the latter, just to smooth things out. It’s something I wouldn’t have been able to do on any of the previous DiGiCo desks and it sounds great; I think it’s the best sounding desk on the market.” Red Snapper (SD9) also made an appearance along with an SD8 and SD10 on the Brandon Flowers tour (Cap Sound), and the whole of the SD range was utilised for the Montreux Jazz Festival. DiGiCo’s D5 was also brought in for Michael Ball (along with an SD8) and for James’ tour (both Capital Sound). A pair of SD10s were also deployed by Philippe Barguirdijan, co-owner of Arpege Son Lumiere for Jazz a Juan festival, where Alain Courier, Jean Michel Jarre’s FOH engineer (and a long-time SD7 user) babysat FOH position.

"This summer we have seen DiGiCo digitally converting more festivals than ever before, whether it's headline bands coming in with their SD7s or the smaller stages taking advantage of the same ease-of-use and audio quality of the SD8s and SD9s," says DiGiCo's managing director James Gordon. "Most engineers have now used one or other digital console live, which helps relieve the pressure of using them in a festival environment." www.digico.bizhttp://www.jazzajuan.co.uk/